Serbia's Muslim minority seeks cooperation with Turkey

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia

Head of Bosniak National Council (BNV) in Serbia said the representative body needs cooperation with Turkey in all fields.

Sulejman Ugljanin's remarks came during an interview with Anadolu Agency after he declared victory to continue as the head of the BNV in Serbia's Nov. 4 elections for members of the national councils of national minorities.

Ugljanin said there is a deep connection between Sandzak Bosniaks and Turkey. The Sandzak is a Muslim majority region in southern Serbia.

"There are about 3 million people of Sandzak origin living in Turkey. Our cooperation is at the highest level. We need to cooperate with Turkey, which is among the top 20 most advanced countries in the world, in all fields," said Ugljanin.

Ugljanin underlined the good relations Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic have, noting that good relations are very important for Bosniaks and they expect concrete results from these relations.

Ugljanin also said the problems of the Bosnian minority in Serbia could only be solved with the help of the international community.

He said the use of the Bosnian language in the Sandzak region was progressing slowly and that there was a problem with supplying schoolchildren with books in their own language.

"Our children were discriminated. Books were not given to them. With the support of Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency Presidency (TIKA) these books were received," said Ugljanin.

Ugljanin also said that children of Sandzak should be encouraged to study in Turkish universities and employed by Turkish companies in Serbia.

He said some state officials in Serbia claim the Bosniak people were "not mature enough" while addressing the international arena, and that state institutions practice "an oppressive approach" to the Sandzak region.

"No one has been punished for the death of the Bosniaks in this region. Even a simple traffic incident is charged with 10 days of detention, while the killing of Bosniaks is not even counted as a crime," said Ugljanin.

According to Ugljanin, the state of Serbia has been treating Sandzak region as "stepchild" since the 1990s, noting that there is no cooperation with state institutions at any level.

Turkey gives great importance to the Sandzak region as it plays a role in bridging the relations between the two nations and keeps the cultural ties at its strongest.